New technologies in banking are continuously transforming the financial services industry. In the next few years, traditional banks will need to adopt FinTech technologies to keep up with customers’ shifting demands. For security and protection from fraud, there exist emerging technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrency (e.g., XDR wallets), and biometrics.

On the other hand, digital banking, money transfer apps, and payment gateways have made it easier and faster to make transactions. In fact, according to Think with Google, smartphone users have an average of 2.5 apps installed on their devices.

As people increasingly acknowledge the benefits of FinTech, the demand for these FinTech apps grows. And because of the lack of talent, high hiring costs onshore, regulatory restrictions, and increased value of resources, it’s best to outsource your FinTech app development to a specialist 3rd party vendor.

Having talked to Colette Wyatt, CTO of a UK-based bespoke software house Evolve and Co-Founder of a FinTech startup e-bate that uses an Extended FinTech Dev Team nearshore, I’ve put together some essential steps to help you make the right decision when picking a bespoke FinTech app development provider.

Steps for Finding a FinTech App Development Company

According to Statista, in 2019, the mobile app retention rate dropped to 32% from 38% in 2018. Therefore, to gain traction, you should create an app that offers an unforgettable experience and, what’s even more important, ensures the highest level of data security. This success is highly dependent on the FinTech development team you hire. So, how can you make sure that the company you hire is the best fit for your FinTech needs?

To get the most out of your outsourced team, do pay attention to the following criteria:

Result-Oriented Mindset

When you decide to develop a FinTech app, you typically have specific goals in mind. Therefore, a good development company should be able to dedicate time and resources from the very beginning of your communication to listen to your needs and bottlenecks, understand them in detail, and make a value proposition that will eventually give you a strong competitive edge.

The FinTech development company offers the right business model

In FinTech development outsourcing, there’s just one rule of thumb – always keep an eye on your product and never share any sensitive data with any 3rd-parties. So, how to outsource without sharing any business-critical data? By using an Extended Team model, i.e., a new type of a software development outsourcing where you use an external partner as a provider of FinTech talent and other resources, as well as IT, HR, recruitment, retention and payroll services, but it’s you who manages the extended team, assigns tasks, controls milestone deliveries and the final release. In this case, you can keep all of your data in-house and manage accesses and ensure security through DevOps that should ideally be based in your country or jurisdiction.

The FinTech provider lets you make the final hiring decision

In the FinTech world, clients should be involved in the process of interviewing the candidates and making the final hiring decision, and as such involving clients in candidate interviews and discussions should be embedded in your prospective vendor’s client onboarding policy.

If you have a core FinTech team in-house and are looking to extend your team with an external provider to ramp up the project, build some of its elements or just speed up development and avoid vendor lock-in risks, make sure you involve your in-house FinTech dev resources in interviewing your auxiliary team members.

At the end of the day, your extended FinTech team will be working in close collaboration with your core team, so it’s critical for your on- and off-premise developers to be on the same page and to have a good cultural and mentality fit. If you don’t have any in-house expertise and are looking to outsource your entire FinTech team offshore, onshore or nearshore, hire a FinTech consultant in your neighborhood and let them interview your prospective FinTech dev partner’s talent to make sure their skills and competencies match your project requirements.

The company has a good portfolio of custom FinTech development projects

Skilled and experienced app developers are key to the successful development of your FinTech solution. Therefore, check the level of competency of the team you want to hire. Always check their Portfolio section on the website and read all case stories/studies about your industry or product. If something seems unclear or you need more details, don’t hesitate to ask your prospective vendor for more client references or do your own background check and contact their former clients to get their feedback.

To cut it short, if you’re looking to build a software solution for rebates management, make sure you’re talking to vendors with at least one person in a team who has a really good understanding of rebates.

Clients today demand transparency of operations and compliance. They will not tolerate vendors that don’t follow regulations, have tax issues, have lawsuits, or are involved in shadowy deals. That’s because liaising with a FinTech developer that does not adhere to your state’s or country’s laws can gravely affect your reputation.

For this reason, look for a FinTech app developer with a local footprint, i.e., one having HQ and/or operations in your home country’s jurisdiction and understanding your region’s legal framework. The specialists should be well aware of the regulations surrounding FinTech app development in your area, including laws governing customer data.

So, if you’re based out of the EU, make sure to shortlist vendors with EU-based HQ. In other words, it doesn’t matter where your vendor will keep your extended team as long as all of your vulnerable business data is kept within their EU and is GDPR compliant.

This step of vendor selection is especially important as both you and your prospective developer should be on the same page, regulatory-wise. It will also save you from extra hassle when you are done with the development phase and want to deploy your app.

Security testing is embedded in the company’s SDLC

When you evaluate your prospective FinTech dev provider, make sure they offer security testing in general and penetration testing in particular as part of their software development life cycle (SDLC).

Agile Development Process

Agile processes or methods promote disciplined management of projects. In an agile software environment, software development requirements, as well as solutions, are handled through collaborative efforts within cross-functional dev teams and clients.

An agile process encourages frequent inspection and adaptation, as well as accountability and organization. It also ensures that your app is scalable and flexible in both design and code. In short, the team you hire to develop your FinTech app should be willing and capable of adapting to changes, feedback, or suggestions in the development process.

In conclusion, your potential app developer should have all these qualities and be creative enough to make your app stand out. With modern-day consumers having several apps on their phone, your app won’t be noticed unless it performs well and is relevant and secure.